Colonial masculinity: The 'manly Englishman' and the 'effeminate Bengali' in the late nineteenth centuryThis book is about the processes and practices through which two differently positioned elites, among the colonisers and the colonised, were constituted respectively as the 'manly Englishman' and the 'effeminate Bengali'. It argues that the emerging dynamics between colonial and nationalist politics in the 1880s and 1890s in India is best captured in the logic of colonial masculinity. The figures of the 'manly Englishman' and the 'effeminate Bengali' were thus constituted in relation to colonial Indian society as well as to some aspects of late nineteenth-century British society. These aspects of late nineteenth-century British society are the emergence of the 'New Woman', the 'remaking of the working class', the legacy of 'internal colonialism', and the anti-feminist backlash of the 1880s and 1890s. A sustained focus on the imperial constitution of colonial masculinity, therefore, serves also to refine the standard historical scholarship on nineteenth-century British masculinity. The book traces the impact of colonial masculinity in four specific controversies: the 'white mutiny' against the Ilbert Bill in 1883, the official government response to the Native Volunteer movement in 1885, the recommendations of the Public Service Commission of 1886, and the Indian opposition to the Age of Consent Bill in 1891. In this book, the author situates the analysis very specifically in the context of an imperial social formation. In doing so, the author examines colonial masculinity not only in the context of social forces within India, but also as framed by and framing political, economic, and ideological shifts in Britain. |
Contents
1 | |
the Ilbert Bill controversy 188384 | 33 |
the native volunteer movement 188586 | 69 |
the Public Service Commission 188687 | 100 |
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administration agitation Anglo-Indian appointments argued argument Association babu Bengali Bombay Britain British Calcutta candidates challenge changes civil service civilians colonial authorities colonial masculinity colonial rule competitive examination Consent Bill construct controversy corps covenanted criticism cultural debate demands demonstrates Department discussion domination early economic educated effeminacy effeminate elite English Englishman European example exclusion fact female Force gender Government Government of India groups hand Hindu History Home Ilbert Bill impact imperial important India interests lady late Letter limit London majority male manly marriage martial Military Muslim nationalist native volunteer nineteenth century noted officials opinion opponents opposition politics position practices proposal Provincial Public Service Commission question Quoted race racial rape recommended recruitment reform religious Report response Review role Secretary servants served sexual social society Studies subjects suggested traditions University Press Viceroy volunteer movement white women wife